Tie making machine



July 26, 1932. H. D. STEVENS TIRE MAKING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 5l. 1927 IN1/EN; 0R. HURAEEBETEVENE- BY 8/ A TTORNEY.

TIRE MAKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3l, 1927 l 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENToR. HDRAEEBET LVENS- A TT ORNE YJ H. D. STEVENS TIRE MAKING MACHINE Filed Dec.

July 26, 1932.

5l. 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR HDR/QCElZ STEVENS,

ATTORNEY@ BY M July 26, 1932. H. D. STEVENS TIRE MAKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31. 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Illl {ll j um . INVENTOR. HURAEEDETEVENE- BY MJ W3 ATTORNEYJ.

July 26, 1932. H. D. STEVENS 1,869,317

TIRE MAKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 51, 1927 5 sheets-sheet 5 INVENTOR. MURALE 1li-r avr-:Ni

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ATTORNEYJ.

Patented July 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AHormon D. STEVENS, or AKRON, OHIO, AssrGNon To 'THE rrREsfroNn TIRE AND nun- BER coMrANY, or AKRON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO TIRE MAKING MACHINE Application led December 31, 1927. Serial No. 243,865.

This invention relates to 'machines for maln'ng pneumatic tires, particularly to apparatus for assembling the component parts of a tire and building them up in the form l f a semi-Hat band.

An object of the. inventionv is to devise a machine by means of which all of the component parts of. a tire may be accurately built into a complete assembly in a semi- -1 flat form ready for expansion to tire. shape. A further object is to provide in conjunction with the above, an improved stitcher mechanism for stitching together the various plies of the casing, the beads, tread, side wall 15": and finishing strips. Another object is to devise for use in combination with the other parts of the apparatus, a collapsible drum upon which the tire casings may be built, the drum then to be collapsed to facilitate the ,o removal of the tire casing. The foregoing and other objects are obtained by the apparatus illustrated in the drawings and described below. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited g5. to the specific form thereof disclosed herein.

Of they accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevation thereof; w Figure 3 is an enlarged scalev elevational detail view of the drive mechanism; Figure 4 is an enlarged scale elevational detail view of the collapsible drum;

Figure 5v is a transverse section taken on a5, the line 5 5 of Figure` 4*; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged scale elevational detail view'` of the stitcher mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a frame for supporting the ..various elements of the tire building machine. The shaft 11, journaled in the frame, is driven by friction pulley 12, which is in turn selectively driven by either of friction wheels 13 or 14. As best shown in Figure 3, these friction wheels are j ournaled in a shifting bracket 15, hinged on shaft 16, and adapted to be rocked by connecting rod 17 actuated through suitable connecting means by pedals 18 and 19. Gear 20 keyed to shaft 56 16 meshes with pinion 21 fixed to wheel 14 to drive the latter at high speed, while a chain 22 trained over sprockets 23 and 24 respectively Xed to shaftv 16 andto wheelV 13, drives the-latter at low speed in a reversed direction. Shaft 16 is rotatedl by gear 25 meshed with pinion 26 driven by motor 27 or any other suitable source of power, the directions of the driving means being such that pressing pedal 18 wil-l cause` shaft 11 to be rotated slowly in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1, while ress-l ing pedal 19 will cause a rapid clockwise rotation of shaft 11. A spring-pressed brake shoe 28' is mounted onv frame 10 Yso as normally to engage theinternal surface of vfrico5 tion pulley 12 to prevent .rotation thereof, and being vconstructed and arranged so that itv may be disengaged when; either of friction Wheels 13 or'14 is brought into driving engagement with the friction pulley.

The collapsible tireV building drum, de-

nnoted generally by the numeral 29 is affixed' by the hubI 30y thereof to the end of shaft 11 for rotation therewith, and, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, comprises a fixed segment 75. y'

pressed pin 38 engageable in an aperture 39 8;,

in the hub to lock the handle in place when the drum is expanded to cylindrical form. Hooks 40, 40 mounted on the key segmenty engage pins 41, 41 mountedin the pivoted segments'32 and 33 tolimit the movement oo of the lkey segment 34 when the latter is reciprocated outwardly tov expand the drum. The drum is generally cylindrical on :its exterior and is provided at it's sides with skirt portions 42, 42 to accommodate the 9e beads and the marginal edges of the tire buildingrbands in the construction ofV tires onthedrum. A stockj' feeding tablef 43v is mounted-onlstandards- 44, 44l adjacent the ldrumi inthe luf) tical axis into position above the drum and to swing out of the way of the operator when not in use. They contour roll,` detailed in Figure 6,' includes a plurality of discs 49V loosely journaled on a shaft 50,the central aperture lin the discs being vsomewhat larger than the shaft so that each disc may be independently shiftable' inl a plane perpeiidicular to the shaft, and the discs being loosely assembled between collars 52, 52 so as to be freely acted upon by gravity. The

mounting for the contour roll consists of a pair of hangers 53', 53 xed to a bracket 54 pivoted about a vertical axis on a stud shaft 55 mounted on frame l0 to permit the bracket to be swung over' the tire drum or out of the way when not in use. Stitcher shaft 50 is mountedin hangers 53 on eccentric bush ings 56, 56 fixed to the shaft and rotatable by means of crank 57 to raise and lower the contour roll with respect to the drum. ln order to limit the sidesway of stitcher discs 49, a pair of rolls 58 are mounted adjacent the latter o-n lateral arms 59 extending from hangers 53. Y'

A pair of bead setting rings are mounted to cooperatewith they drum for positioning and alfixing beads to the tire carcass. An inner ring 60 is supported by a pair of racks 61,61 slidable in framelO and reciprocableY toward -aiidfrom the drum by pinions 62, 62

meshing with the racks and actuated by a hand' wheel 63.l The outer ring 64 is pivoted about a vertical axis on bracket 65 attached to frame l() and is adapted to be swung into position for setting a. bead on the outer side^ of the drum. Y vIn the operation of thek machine for making tires, the.` inner fabric plies arecenteredY on'the stock table bynieansof the guide rails and are appliedY circumferentially about the drum, which is rotated atits slow speed,

the contour roll'or stitcher being swung out of the way as shown in dotted lines in Figf ure 1. f rlhe beads are then applied 'by the bead setting rings and the inner Yplies stitched over the beads by a handv tool or other suitable means. The outer plies,`cushion strip,

breaker strip tread and sidewalls are each applied in turn Afrom Vthe stock table and the wholetire assembly vstitched together with the contour roll. This is accomplished by swingingV said roll to a position directly above the drum and lowering the stiteher plates by turning handle 57 until the plates 49 contact with the tire as the drum is rapidly rotated. The plates are then freely acted upon'by gravity to followthe contour of the tire and each plate finds its level and stitches independently of the others as shown in Fig,- ure 6. Ifdesired, the plies [and strips may be individually stitched about the drinn by the contour roll after each is applied, or they may be stitched in groups, as inner plies, outer plies, yand rubber covering strips. The overhanging margins of the outer fabricplies are then stitched under the Ybeads byf'any suitablemeans to complete the'tire assembly. Finally the drum is collapsed by turning handle-36 and the tire removed therefromy ready to be expanded to tire shape. fj'

Modifications of the structure herein disclosed may be resorted to Vwithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope thereof as defined bythe appendedclaims.v f

What is claimed iszl Y 1. In combination: with a rotatable Vtire drum, a shaft eccentrically ournaledin said carriage, stitclier roll mounted on saidy shaft and adapted tobe Vraised and lowered withv respect to saidV druml by, rotation of the Shaft.

2, ln combination with a tire building machine including a rotatable drinn, -aA stitcher roll pivoted Labout vertical axis to' swingv over said drum and Vmovable radially toward and from the drum. 1

3. ln combinationV with a tire buildingimail chine' including a rotatable drum, ashaft arranged to move into parallel relation to the axis of said drum, a plurality of rotatable thin edgedl annular discs journaled onsaid shaftand having individual freedom ofmotion transversely of theshaft, andfmeans for moving the plurality of annular members as a whole toward said drum, said discs be- A ing independently actuated by"v gravity to compacta narrow circumferentialv area ofy tire buildingmaterialsfapplied about .the

drum.

` Y nonnen D'. srnvnns. 

